Bitcoin Cash is officially a thing. According to
(https://coinmarketcap.com/) Coinmarketcap.com data on Friday, it is one
of the world's top five cryptocurrencies, worth around $277 each.
However, several leading cryptocurrency service providers don't
fully support BCH. The
(http://www.ibtimes.com/why-bitcoin-fork-debate-august-1st-isnt-civil-war-2571931) controversial bitcoin fork hasn't finished stirring up
drama yet.

Coinbase, one of the world's most popular cryptocurrency
exchange platforms, notably replied to user outrage by saying the
company plans to (https://blog.coinbase.com/update-on-bitcoin-cash-8a67a7e8dbdf) support BCH&nbsp;by Jan. 1, 2018 . This move did not
appease users eager to join the newest cryptocurrency gold rush.
American BCH&nbsp;supporters are planning to file a
(http://fortune.com/2017/08/02/bitcoin-cash-lawsuit/) class action
lawsuit against Coinbase. Attorney
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyanka-ghosh-murthy-a410a52/) Priyanka
Ghosh-Murthy is spearheading the case from her practice in Florida. She
told International Business Times "more than dozens" of
prospective plaintiffs across the country have expressed interest in
filing a lawsuit as soon as possible.

Read: (http://www.ibtimes.com/what-bitcoin-cash-reveals-about-future-cryptocurrency-2572714) What Bitcoin Cash Reveals About The Future Of
Cryptocurrency

"That [Coinbase] letter is completely insufficient. It's
a placeholder that has no effect on any of the claims our plaintiffs
have," she said. "They're just saying in the future they
might do something." Some BCH&nbsp;supporters want nothing less
than timely, equal support for both BCH&nbsp;and bitcoin. "Five
months in cryptocurrency is a lifetime," Ghosh-Murthy said.
"They [Coinbase] have a duty to give people access to their
money."

Coinbase declined to comment on the prospective lawsuit, although
all (https://blog.coinbase.com/update-on-bitcoin-cash-8a67a7e8dbdf)
public statements encourage users to withdraw bitcoin and
keep&nbsp;funds elsewhere if they want immediate access to BCH.
Otherwise, users' BCH&nbsp;remains safely stored until further
notice. Coinbase CEO
(https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/892486687531556865) Brian
Armstrong tweeted it takes a long time to securely add new assets. His
startup is already swamped with
(http://www.ibtimes.com/coinbase-status-cryptocurrency-price-skyrockets-causes-outage-largest-bitcoin-2544190) infrastructure issues as
(https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-user-base-surges-coinbase-adds-1-mln-users-in-1-month) millions of new users flock to Coinbase, week
after week, clamoring for bitcoin.

Several more network forks and updates are expected to happen over
the upcoming year. Bitcoin Core contributor
(https://twitter.com/jfnewbery) John Newbery told IBT he doesn't
think it is realistic to expect cryptocurrency exchanges to accommodate
every bitcoin fork. "Technically, it is very challenging," he
said.

The Coinbase controversy is a perfect example of why numerical
evaluations of BCH&nbsp;paint a distorted picture. On Wednesday,
(https://qz.com/1044413/bitcoin-cash-is-already-the-third-most-valuable-cryptocurrency/) Quartz reported the leading cryptocurrency market
tracker indicated BCH was worth $7.6 billion.&nbsp;"A lot of
those coins are not truly in circulation at this point," Ryan
Taylor, CEO of (https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/10424093/) Dash
Core Group , told IBT. "I have a feeling there's a lot of
supply that is phantom coins that will never truly exist. The true
market cap is much lower than the reported numbers."&nbsp;

In theory, lots of bitcoin holders could have equal amounts of
bitcoin and BCH. But if they can't trade BCH&nbsp;or sell it in
their usual haunts, then they won't change their habits in order to
use it.&nbsp;Taylor said right now it's impossible to calculate
how many people actually plan to use BCH.&nbsp;Newbery&nbsp;sold
off all his BCH&nbsp;last week, which he automatically got when the
network forked got because he stores his own digital assets. But did it
precisely&nbsp;because he doesn't believe in BCH's
long-term value.

BCH&nbsp;doesn't add any fundamental features to
traditional bitcoin. It just makes the foundational blocks a little
bigger, which allows more network transactions than the current bitcoin
network can support. However, future bitcoin forks will probably boost
that capacity.&nbsp;Plus, the technical mechanisms behind
BCH&nbsp;got a (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bitcoin-cash-latest-news-clone-digital-currency-encrypted-privacy-dark-web-a7872081.html) slow start , so tallying current transactions isn't a
good way to predict BCH's real market demand either.

Many experts believe the fork's ripple effect will continue to
create disorder for weeks to come. "I am sure people will lose
money, exchanges will lose money, wallets will lose money, people just
didn't have enough time [to prepare]," Newbery said. To make
matters worse, BCH&nbsp;and bitcoin are so similar that Newbery said
it is easy for even seasoned cryptocurrency users to confuse the two,
for example sending money to the wrong digital address or sending the
wrong type of digital money. Despite all the chaos, Taylor expects BCH
will survive the year.

"There are enough people who support it," he said.
"There are a lot of idealists in this space, and they believe in
the path Bitcoin Cash is taking." &nbsp;

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